iFi audio ZEN Stream - Streaming elevated to a higher plane

Oct 25, 2021 at 11:37 AM Post #2,132 of 6,302
Got it! Love how this is the only thing you responded to and nothing to do with peoples problems or my experiences.
Wow.....a lot of fans of this unit, that's good to hear that people have enjoyed it, I HATED mine.

I went thru two units and both had massive issues. First one would only connect thru roon, no airplay, no spotify connect. Sent it back to the retailer and they had the same issue and sent me another unit. This unit would work for airplay and spotify once in a while and I was ready to just drop that and stick with roon/Qobuz but then the unit started powering down on it's own.

That was it. Nevermind the horrific customer service, they seem like they are overloaded with issues right now and service tickets would go unanswered, answers were generic and most of the time they would just say "it's broken, send it in for us to fix" without really diving into any issues.

Moving on to a Cambridge CXN V2.
As far as I can see, this is your first post on this thread about your issues...

Please tell me how anyone is supposed to respond to your "issues" when all you listed are generalities?

Power Supply version? Connection method? Software version? Ethernet/WiFi? Initial setup method?

Would have been helpful...
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/people/IFi-audio/61558986775162/ https://twitter.com/ifiaudio https://www.instagram.com/ifiaudio/ https://ifi-audio.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@iFiaudiochannel comms@ifi-audio.com
Oct 25, 2021 at 11:42 AM Post #2,133 of 6,302
As far as I can see, this is your first post on this thread about your issues...

Please tell me how anyone is supposed to respond to your "issues" when all you listed are generalities?

Power Supply version? Connection method? Software version? Ethernet/WiFi? Initial setup method?

Would have been helpful...
I’m done explaining. I’m sharing my experiences. I’ve done all of it already, this has been a 2 month long ordeal, you know this isn’t their official site? This isn’t how people should be getting help with their product? They have a service ticket process on their site and yet looks like a lot of people are having to come here for help instead.

I appreciate your willingness to help but believe me, there is nothing you could do. In both instances I finally got iFi to admit the units were bad and to send them back for other units.
 
Oct 25, 2021 at 11:59 AM Post #2,134 of 6,302
Guys, my experience with ZS is getting better day by day.
Now even my wife is able to play some streaming music :scream:

Hope your wife has as good taste in music as you do!

when Tidal is connected the right light is green, click iFi stramer on Tidal connect again and the green light will disappear.
after that you will be able to use the ZS internal player

Correct!

Yea....must borrowed from my bruder.
I will try and report back

regards,
Simon

Thanks very much for keeping us posted Simon!

I’m done explaining. I’m sharing my experiences. I’ve done all of it already, this has been a 2 month long ordeal, you know this isn’t their official site? This isn’t how people should be getting help with their product? They have a service ticket process on their site and yet looks like a lot of people are having to come here for help instead.

I appreciate your willingness to help but believe me, there is nothing you could do. In both instances I finally got iFi to admit the units were bad and to send them back for other units.

Got it! Love how this is the only thing you responded to and nothing to do with peoples problems or my experiences.


Hi, @uphoto:

We recognize your experiences and emotions around this 2-month ordeal you have been through.

There is always a diagnosing process before accepting units back. We will never accept units right away, but will always provide replacements through your retailer or us directly if you are under warranty. The company supports supported thousands of customers through our system, and there will always be a wait involved. As we are all human, thanks for your understanding from that perspective as well.

We support Head-Fi because it is a great source of advice and discussion. Doesn't matter if it's our original site or not, we will be in as many places on the internet as the time we have as staff allows. That goes with the community here too, who is not an extension of us, but will do everything they can to support you and work through your issues should you have provided more info.

I appreciate you taking the time to air your grievances with us here!
 
Oct 25, 2021 at 12:49 PM Post #2,135 of 6,302
Hope your wife has as good taste in music as you do!



Correct!



Thanks very much for keeping us posted Simon!






Hi, @uphoto:

We recognize your experiences and emotions around this 2-month ordeal you have been through.

There is always a diagnosing process before accepting units back. We will never accept units right away, but will always provide replacements through your retailer or us directly if you are under warranty. The company supports supported thousands of customers through our system, and there will always be a wait involved. As we are all human, thanks for your understanding from that perspective as well.

We support Head-Fi because it is a great source of advice and discussion. Doesn't matter if it's our original site or not, we will be in as many places on the internet as the time we have as staff allows. That goes with the community here too, who is not an extension of us, but will do everything they can to support you and work through your issues should you have provided more info.

I appreciate you taking the time to air your grievances with us here!
What a wonderful message and way to handle things, I obviously did not go to the right place as you are the only person in this whole situation that actually had something meaningful to say (sorry but it's the truth).

I wanted to keep the unit, I really did but it felt as if this whole rollout of the product was done as a beta rollout and probably should have for quite some time first. Glad others will have a resource or have had one here but sadly I think it's too late for me........
 
Oct 25, 2021 at 1:27 PM Post #2,136 of 6,302
What a wonderful message and way to handle things, I obviously did not go to the right place as you are the only person in this whole situation that actually had something meaningful to say (sorry but it's the truth).

I wanted to keep the unit, I really did but it felt as if this whole rollout of the product was done as a beta rollout and probably should have for quite some time first. Glad others will have a resource or have had one here but sadly I think it's too late for me........

If you decide to give it another shot (perhaps with some direct support from me), let me know!

If not, I totally understand as well.

Appreciate you understanding our point of view and perspective, just needed to be communicated a little bit better and that's what I am here for!
 
Oct 25, 2021 at 3:24 PM Post #2,137 of 6,302
For those that experience streaming issues with the ZS, especially if you are using Tidal Connect. If your having issues like it not working or not playing and you used Tidal Connect, please watch this.

This video is unlisted, but please share it if you think it can help someone else...




Cheers!!
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/people/IFi-audio/61558986775162/ https://twitter.com/ifiaudio https://www.instagram.com/ifiaudio/ https://ifi-audio.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@iFiaudiochannel comms@ifi-audio.com
Oct 26, 2021 at 3:53 AM Post #2,138 of 6,302
Test - day 2 - Tidal connect - working perfectly
EDD41650-0511-42AE-AC23-38829146854C.jpeg
 
Oct 26, 2021 at 5:40 AM Post #2,139 of 6,302
OK, so I've bought and set up the ZS on my 5G network without too much trouble at all including mounting my NAS and doing the scan. So far so good and I'm listening to music. I've even turned it on & off a couple of times and it's connected again without any problems.

A couple of naive questions:
  1. I've read about an exclusive app - is this available & if so how do I get it?
  2. Which exclusive mode do I use if I am just pulling music from my NAS and using Airplay? DLNA?

Thanks in advance :relaxed:
 
Oct 26, 2021 at 11:06 AM Post #2,140 of 6,302
I have been having some stability issues with a second ZS, and have reported these to iFi support last Thursday and haven't received a response to my ticket. (My 1st unit has been stable with no similar issues.) My return window closes this week, hence I'm posting here. The issues have to do with sudden loss of network connectivity (red light). Once this happens, I need to restart. The issue then recurs with increasing frequency (several times/day), until the unit fails to connect at all (permanent red light). A factory reset seems to help, but I've now had to do this twice. ZS is wired (wifi off) and I have a 1 GB ethernet connection. I have two raspberry pis running Volumio, and they have been stable throughout my experience with the ZS (i.e. no local network issues with any other devices). I use it primarily to play through Audirvana, Spotify, or local files (via a USB-mounted SSD). No Tidal. I'm using a 12v iPower. It shipped with a generic 12v supply. Thanks for any thoughts.
 
Oct 26, 2021 at 11:23 AM Post #2,141 of 6,302
OK, so I've bought and set up the ZS on my 5G network without too much trouble at all including mounting my NAS and doing the scan. So far so good and I'm listening to music. I've even turned it on & off a couple of times and it's connected again without any problems.

A couple of naive questions:
  1. I've read about an exclusive app - is this available & if so how do I get it?
  2. Which exclusive mode do I use if I am just pulling music from my NAS and using Airplay? DLNA?

Thanks in advance :relaxed:
The Exclusive app is for the most part the same as using ifi.local from any browser, I know the IOS version is "Stream-iFi"

Not sure about the Android, i"ll have to look

I have seriously had mine in mode 1 AIO for so long I forget that too, lol.....Put it in #1 AIO, and stream on!
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/people/IFi-audio/61558986775162/ https://twitter.com/ifiaudio https://www.instagram.com/ifiaudio/ https://ifi-audio.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@iFiaudiochannel comms@ifi-audio.com
Oct 26, 2021 at 11:26 AM Post #2,142 of 6,302
I have been having some stability issues with a second ZS, and have reported these to iFi support last Thursday and haven't received a response to my ticket. (My 1st unit has been stable with no similar issues.) My return window closes this week, hence I'm posting here. The issues have to do with sudden loss of network connectivity (red light). Once this happens, I need to restart. The issue then recurs with increasing frequency (several times/day), until the unit fails to connect at all (permanent red light). A factory reset seems to help, but I've now had to do this twice. ZS is wired (wifi off) and I have a 1 GB ethernet connection. I have two raspberry pis running Volumio, and they have been stable throughout my experience with the ZS (i.e. no local network issues with any other devices). I use it primarily to play through Audirvana, Spotify, or local files (via a USB-mounted SSD). No Tidal. I'm using a 12v iPower. It shipped with a generic 12v supply. Thanks for any thoughts.
Best I could do for you at this point is say if you are wired, go into the settings and turn wifi off, also disable hotspot.

if you PM me, I can send you screen caps of all my settings, you could see if something is different...

Cheers!!
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/people/IFi-audio/61558986775162/ https://twitter.com/ifiaudio https://www.instagram.com/ifiaudio/ https://ifi-audio.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@iFiaudiochannel comms@ifi-audio.com
Oct 26, 2021 at 11:29 AM Post #2,143 of 6,302
In case anyone missed this yesterday, iFi posted this last night on Instagram...

IMG_8861.PNG
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/people/IFi-audio/61558986775162/ https://twitter.com/ifiaudio https://www.instagram.com/ifiaudio/ https://ifi-audio.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@iFiaudiochannel comms@ifi-audio.com
Oct 26, 2021 at 11:46 AM Post #2,144 of 6,302
Best I could do for you at this point is say if you are wired, go into the settings and turn wifi off, also disable hotspot.

if you PM me, I can send you screen caps of all my settings, you could see if something is different...

Cheers!!
Thanks - wifi & hotspot have been off since initial set-up. Settings are identical to my other ZS (and to my Rasp. Pis) which never exhibited these issues. (I've since moved that one to a different address,)
 
Oct 26, 2021 at 11:57 AM Post #2,145 of 6,302
Thanks - wifi & hotspot have been off since initial set-up. Settings are identical to my other ZS (and to my Rasp. Pis) which never exhibited these issues. (I've since moved that one to a different address,)
Is the other ZS on at the same time? Other than what I mentioned, you are experienced with it so not sure what help I can be.

I don't have two, but I am wondering about the Naming of the unit in the settings? Perhaps it needs to be different if you haven't done that already.

Cheers!!
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/people/IFi-audio/61558986775162/ https://twitter.com/ifiaudio https://www.instagram.com/ifiaudio/ https://ifi-audio.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@iFiaudiochannel comms@ifi-audio.com

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top